I'm trying to install my first gentoo on a atom laptop Acer Aspire one ZA3 (quite old now...)
Everything looks fine while following the usual handbook, until the first reboot.
Grub (grub2) starts, uses initramfs quite usually, but fail while trying to determine Root Device !
It's a 32bit system, without UEFI (if it does help).

[code]
Determining root device...
!! Could not find the root block device in UUID=[d8c79d26-.....-beccc675500e.].
Please specify another value or: press Enter for the same, type "shell" for shell or "q" to skip
[/code]

I note that this uuid does correspond to my sdb3, which is my linux partition.

When i go back on the live usb key, chroot, and use bklid and fdisk, i find this (there may be some typing error, as i did not copied-pastes it):

For information, I compiled the kernel using genkernel with basic settings, plus the option to compile kernel for using uuids instead of labels (i thought it could help for my problem). I also set the fstab file with uuids.

I found one linux line in my grub.cfg :
linux /kernel-genkernel-x86-3.12.13-gentoo root=UUID=d8c79d26....beccc675500E ro

I also noticed that there are some other places where my UUID (same as above) is used (actually two in the Advanced options for Gentoo..." and two for "Gentoo GNU/LINUX", that corresponds to my two grub lines while booting) :
both are "search" lines, one with "--set=root myuuid" and one with --hint-efi=hd1,msdos1 --hint-baremetal=ahci1,msdos1 myuuid. Both have the --fs-uuid option. Does it seems OK ?

The kernel does not understand UUIDs itself. It does understand PARTIDs though, which are quite different.
For mounting root by UUID, your initrd has to contain the userspace mount command.
/etc/fstab cannot be read until root is mounted, so we can rule that out for now.

Look carefully at your error

dmesg:

Determining root device...
!! Could not find the root block device in UUID=[d8c79d26-.....-beccc675500e.].

If your kernel can see your HDD controller, there should be a list of all the block devices the kernel ac see.
It looks like your list is empty,
Another hint is ... unknown-block(0,0) in your panic message.

Change to root=/dev/sdb3 as a diagnostic aid_________________Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

Ok, just realised that this was not the solution.
I will change the grub.cfg, but i have a question : the sdx configuration works now because i still have my usbkey plugged.

When i'll unplug it, i think my hard drive will become sda instead of sdb ? Should i use sda3 instead of sdb 3 ?
I also noticed that the grub.cfg file say to change the conf from /etc/default/grub, where the GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID exists. Should i uncomment the line (which have the TRUE parameter) and restart "grub2-install /dev/sdb" and "grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg" ?

Does the boot order in my bios change that (maybe a stupid question, but i'm wondering) ?

I found one linux line in my grub.cfg :
linux /kernel-genkernel-x86-3.12.13-gentoo root=UUID=d8c79d26....beccc675500E ro

It depends on your initrd how this line is interpreted. I never used genkernel with an initrd, but IIRC you have to use real_root=... instead of root=...
If you have good luck this change alone should be enough.

I still think that root= instead of real_root= might be the cause: If root= is interpreted before the modules are loaded, it is clear that the loading of the modules fails due to the chicken-and-egg problem. In contrast, real_root= is certainly not interpreted too early by the genkernel initrd.

Concerning the wgetpaste thing, i'm not sure what to do... (Igot my lspci via an lspci >> temp.txt, an d then copied it on a mounted usb key, from the live usb, as lspci did not worked on my chrooted env).

I tried to edit the linux command directly from grub at boot time, and use real-rool with /dev/sdb3 (with usb key plugged in) and sda3 (without usb key), and the error is not quite the same : it doesn't say that XXX is not a valid root block device. It actually doesn't say anything... just the "could not find..." and then the prompt asking for the value, shell or q.

Concerning ahci/IDE, i do not find it yet. It may be hidden by the manufacturor. I'll try to look at it tomorrow (i'm in France).

Hello,
I just noticed something : my boot line for my hard drive says : "IDE HDD:STxxxxxx -(PM)".
So i'm not even sure that the AHCI/IDE settings may be available, as my drive seems to be an IDE drive.
Could it be possible knowing that this computer have been purchased in autumn 2008 ? It's a 11,6' small laptop, with an AtomZ520.
Many thanks, have great Sunday !

Last hint i ask : where am I supposed to set this flag, and which in y or m should i use ?

I assume I'll have to recompile. Should i set this flag into a env var or use the makemenu ?
I'm not quite sure about getting a correct cfrom this menu. I'd rather use genkernel for now (i'm not yet used to compiling and configuring enough).

Its set in the kernel configuration file.
If you want to use genkernel, you have to help it with the kernel configuration.

Code:

genkernel -menuconfig all

(it might be --menuconfig) will allow you to make changes to the kernel before its built.

Once in menuconfig press / for search, enter PATA_SCH and the kernel will tell you how to find that option.
Set it as <*>, which is the same as =y
When you are done, exit and save changes. genkernel will continue.
This time it will build PATA_SCH for you._________________Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

<*> SCSI disk support is needed for your hard drive.
<*> SCSI generic support is needed for devices that use the SCSI command set over say, USB or some other non native SCSI interface. e.g. USB sticks.
[*] Probe all LUNs on each SCSI device is used by things like card readers with more than one slot.

In short, these other options cover things you are likely to have that you didn't know pretend to be SCSI._________________Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.